Category Archives: Christ’s sufficiency

Am I calling God a liar?

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“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws,, you will be my people and I will be your God.”

(Ez 36.25-28)

Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel is with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say…’The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing’

(Zeph 3.15-17)

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

(1 Pet 2.9)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight… In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

(Eph 1.3,4&8,9)

As Jesus-believers, we are warned not to think too much of ourselves, to be wary of arrogance, false pride, a ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude to our neighbours. The whole thrust of the gospel is that of ourselves, we are helpless and dead in our sins, and it is only God’s grace which can deliver and transform us – we have nothing to boast about for ourselves! Rather, our boast is in our Lord and Saviour, in his power, and beauty and love and sacrifice. BUT, there is a place for a proper pride, a genuine assurance in who we are as God’s beloved children, and that is what I want to think about today.

The word of God is absolutely emphatic in its description of those who are saved by faith – we are now alive with divine life; we are purified by the blood of Jesus; we are God’s priestly people, and have free access into His holy presence. We are beloved, accepted, rejoiced over with singing – all the time and forevermore. It may not look like it to the watching world, but our glory is – like Christ’s – hidden from their eyes until his return when it will be revealed in full. We are as believers what God always intended us to be, and we must never be ashamed of that, nor misrepresent it. What God has called good, we must not dishonour by calling bad, shameful or unworthy.

Our awareness of the sin which will persist until we die must not be allowed to overshadow the reality of what grace has done in our lives, and of what God says is true about us. If I insist on dwelling on and bemoaning sin – which God has completely forgiven in Christ – then I am turning my back on God’s grace and insulting him. He does not continually condemn his children, why should we do so? A false humility, an insistence on our unworthiness and refusal to recognise what Christ has accomplished for us is not a good witness. It is a trap of the evil one, a false self-righteousness, when we refuse to live in the joyous freedom of those whose sins are completely forgiven. Yes, we are sinners, BUT we are forgiven and reborn into new life, and to deny this by living with an attitude of resigned embattling against sin is to call our God a liar, to deny the completeness of Christ’s work on the cross. May we be spared such shameful folly!

Almighty God, Holy and Good and altogether worthy of all praise, I thank you today for the power of Christ to save, to re-birth and make new. I rejoice in what you tell me is true about myself as your beloved child; I accept your word as the only real source of truth and stand proudly as your daughter, a royal princess and priestess of the good news. O let me never dishonour or misrepresent your grace by failing to live in the freedom which that blood won for me on the cross! For the glory of Jesus my Lord, Amen.

He doesn’t get tired…. ever, even of me!

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I lift up my eyes to the mountains: from where will my help come? 

My help is from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.

He does not let your foot stumble. Your guard does not slumber.

Look, He does not slumber nor does He sleep, Israel’s guard.

The Lord is your guard, the Lord is your shade at your right hand. By day the sun does not strike you, nor the moon by night. The Lord guards you from all harm, He guards your life. The Lord guards your going and your coming, now and forevermore.

(Ps 121, R Alter translation)

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

(Heb 4.15&16)

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep…… My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand.”

(Jn 10.14,15,27-29

I think it is impossible for mere mortals to grasp the passionate tenderness with which our heavenly Father loves us, and which our Lord and Shepherd brings to his care for us his flock. We are not equipped to compass such depths and heights of love, and can only glimpse them, catch brief tastes of his delight in us; discern as if from afar the sweetness of his care and the power which he is continually exerting on our behalf. Those tantalising moments are enough though, aren’t they? We are lifted up to mountain tops for a little time, viewing the great glory unrolling all around us, and basking in the love of the eternal as in the rays of the sun.

Our God never fails in his care for his children; never grows tired of hearing their voices, receiving their petitions and sacrificial praise as they bring all that troubles them to his throne of mercy and grace. Our Saviour in glory bears the remembrance of our weakness and mortality, the way our burdens lie so heavy and our horizons shorten abruptly in the face of fear, illness and doubt. He never, ever, ever grows weary of lifting those burdens, wiping our tears and loving us as tenderly as only he can. I find this unbelievably comforting and it inspires me to worship and praise this loyally loving Shepherd, resting in what he has done and who he is for me and for all that is good, true and eternal. And to think that it is as I rest, as I fling my burdens at his feet over and over again, that I am worshipping and bringing him glory – what a marvellous transaction! The thing I most need to do, is the very thing which best honours my dying and rising Lord in all his glory.

Friends, let this truth be our anchor and rock as we face trials – our own, those of our family and friends, and in our wider world. No matter what is going on, the best thing to do is to bring it to the Lord, rush headlong with grief, pain, fear, doubt, weariness, the lead-weight of inexplicable suffering – and lie before him in complete honest abandonment. He will never abandon his lamb, nor spurn the cries of his beloved; he is never asleep on the job, or bored with our presence, but longs that we share it all with him.

This pattern of life doesn’t guarantee that we will see every trial fade away like dew in the warmth of the sun; even now, I can think of faithful believing friends dealing with the suicide of a spouse, the painful death-before-death of a spouse through dementia, the resurgence of cancer, the abrupt curtailing of health and strength by a stroke, the slow debilitating progress of degenerative conditions, the apparently permanent rejection by beloved children of the faith in which they were raised.. and that is before I look to wider social ills and global uncertainties. We do not become believers to become wealthy or secure in the world’s eyes, but to gain eternal life and the sure hope of a glorious future which nothing can steal from us.

For us, to live is Christ, and to die is gain – and since we must face trouble in this world, surely it is good news that we have the unwearying, loving presence of our Lord as we go, and his assurance that we are ever safe with him, no matter what happens. May He give us grace to walk by faith, day-by-day, trusting him completely, for His name’s sake, Amen.

Getting out of the valley…

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Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?… Those who walk righteously and speak what is right… they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them. 

Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar… your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved, its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.

(Isa 33.14-17,20-22)

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.

(Ps 1.1-3)

“It is written; ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

(Matt 5.4)

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

(Jn 4.14)

In these days I am testifying with a full and grateful heart to God’s keeping and directing of me over these months; for his sustaining grace through struggle and weariness; guarding me from folly and from dishonouring him as I seemed to be walking in a maze of dead ends down in the valleys, hungry for the wide open spaces which I believed to be out there! Thanks be to God, who has led and fed, and kept company with me, through his people and through his word – provided for the feeding of his people, who have the privilege of continually being nourished and learning afresh from it. I have received a revelation of grace, experienced the unravelling of knots and been led up over the foothills to the great ‘high ways’ of God’s people.

I am rejoicing in God’s goodness – with renewed appetite for his word and confidence in its power as I see it bear fruit in my life. I am delighting in prospect of a study group with whom to share in learning, sisters in Christ with whom to grow in faith, to share the sheer joy of learning to know God better, to see Jesus more clearly and to worship him with them. A rich banquet is laid out before us on which to feast, where we will meet God and honour him. Truly, our good shepherd provides good food and clear waters for us!

There is a sense of having left behind the narrow and baffling lanes in the valley with their restricted views and lack of perspective. Now I am walking on the ridges, my vision is far-ranging; I can see where I am and where I am going within the context of God’s great plan of redemption and re-creation. The air is clean and invigorating, the prospect glorious, I have food and drink in abundance for my spirit, and lack nothing.

And by whose agency am I brought to this place? By the One whose righteousness is now my inheritance and secure possession, by Jesus Christ the one who has paid for all my sins and through whom I am adopted as God’s beloved daughter. It is all by his loving sacrifice, and thus to him belongs all my praise and thanks. I see the king in his beauty, and the glorious sight brings me such peace and hope. I see the spacious land to which I now belong, and where I will dwell with God and all the saints, and I am near to bursting point with gladness and praise!

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the lessons which you have been teaching me in the valley; and for your preservation of me in those devious and trying paths. I praise you that your grace is now more fully revealed to me, and I am reinvigorated for my journey. Let me not forget the lessons of the valley – above all let me not forget that I can trust you to be working even when I am baffled, grieved and weak. In the name and for the sake of my precious Lord and Saviour, Jesus, I pray, Amen.

Living with brokenness

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… I was given a thorn in my flesh… Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

(2Cor 12.7-10)

… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

(Phil 4.12&13)

 When I am very weary with hard thought,
And yet the question burns and is not quenched,
My heart grows cool when to remembrance wrought
That thou who know’st the light-born answer sought
Know’st too the dark where the doubt lies entrenched –
Know’st with what seemings I am sore perplexed,
And that with thee I wait, nor needs my soul be vexed.
(George MacDonald: The Diary of an Old Soul, 1905)

Where does it come from, the dangerous and deeply ingrained fallacy which tells us that we are somehow entitled to a life free from pain, disability, mental ill health, relationship stress or breakdown? Any gospel message which tries to convince believers that God intends to make their lives and bodies better in every way on this side of glory, is a lie, and should be robustly challenged. I find the apostle Paul’s experience in this regard extremely encouraging! The great man experienced a very challenging health problem, one which he was convinced God could remove, but instead, God asked Paul to accept this weakness, even to embrace it. And, even as Jesus had done in Gethsemane, Paul said, “not my will, but yours be done”. He models for me what it looks like to come to terms with the particular limitations – of whatever kind – I am called to accept in my life. He accepts, and then chooses to rejoice in the very weakness which he has deplored, because now he sees how God is being glorified through it.

To accept our weaknesses, whatever they are, as God’s appointed calling and then to expect to see him at work through them, is not in any way to deny God’s power to miraculously heal, transform and change any situation. But, it is to come to the proper attitude of submission to a sovereign and almighty God. I am in no position to dictate to God just what is right and best for my life. God is good, all the time and He can deliver his children. When He chooses not to, He is still God and still good, and I am called to trust that he can and will use my weakness, my open wound, for his glory.

I am coming to terms with what I might describe as a faith-wound, a profound weakness which often causes me to stumble and suffer. I have long prayed for deliverance and healing, and what happens is that over and over again, my God strengthens me, and displays his power in my weakness, so that I continue in faith and perseverance, but still wounded.

I want to live with my wounds in humility and acceptance – since God is in NO WAY limited in His work in and through my life by the burdens which He calls me to bear. I am no less equipped for my calling by illness, incapacity, any kind of brokenness, than others who do not share my own particular issues. The glory is all His, because in my weakness, He is strong! If I truly long to exalt God, and to do his will, then I must accept the place and method which he appoints.

Heavenly Father, I praise you because you are good, eternally good, and your love for me is trustworthy. Thank you for helping me to accept the weakness which you call me to bear for your glory. Thank you for all the soul-medicines which you provide to enable me to live with this ailment, and for your faithful keeping of me through pain and turmoil. Thank you that I can offer up my struggles and grief as my sacrifice of praise, and that you use these according to your will and for your glory.

Thank you most of all that I can bear witness that you never leave me alone in my suffering, I am never abandoned to the darkness or imprisoned in silence. In Jesus, I am always in your presence; always gently held; always deeply loved; always completely forgiven. Thank you. Amen

 

 

 

 

Whose work is it anyway?

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Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

(1Cor 15.58)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

(Rom 8.28&29)

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

(Phil 1.3-6; 2.12&13)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart… God disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

(Heb 12.2&3,10&11)

There is something of a mystery going on here; did you notice that quotation from Philippians, where Paul exhorts his readers to ‘work out’ their salvation, and then says it is actually God who is working in them! Who is doing the work?! 

This is one of those areas of faith where we must walk carefully – never falling into the trap that it is by our works that we are assured of salvation, and also avoiding the assumption that I only have to ‘let go, and let God have his way,’ in some passive surrender. I am saved by the all-sufficient work of Jesus, and nothing I can do will add to that supreme act of redemption, nor in any way enhance God’s love for me. I am also called – as a new-made child of God – to give myself wholly to living for and with my heavenly Father, growing closer and closer to my Lord Jesus (and therefore more like him), and depending more and more fully on the Holy Spirit within me to enable all these things. I must work… and yet, it is God who is working in me to fulfill his good purposes!

In sovereign omnipotence, the Almighty God is indeed working to bring all of history to the long-intended climax, the return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings, and the full revelation and establishment of his kingdom. In ways which I cannot begin to understand, this work includes the tiny details of my short and insignificant life – the Eternal One has made this human being his business, and has magnificent plans to include her in what he is doing. And I am invited to fully embrace, accept and eagerly align myself with that working – by the power of the Holy Spirit to submit, to commit, to keep on turning to Jesus. When I recognise the scale of the story into which I am now come as a beloved daughter, I am enthralled and amazed, and long to do all I can to engage with God’s work. 

It isn’t so easy when what I am called to is discipline, suffering, endurance and disappointment. But, if God is truly at work in me, and calling me to embrace that work, then this too is a means of grace. This is part of the work, and I am assured that God will complete what he has begun – so my griefs and labours are never wasted but are taken up and made part of his transformation of me into Christ-likeness.

Heavenly Father, thank you that I can trust you to work your perfect will in my life. Thank you that your Spirit enables me to align with that work, to bring my own fitful and limited powers for your transforming use. Thank you for stirring up in me the desire to embrace your work in my life, to accept your will and find your provision for each step. 

Let me work more and more in harmony with you; trusting that my labours are not in vain because you are directing and enabling them for your glory and the blessing of others. All that I do, is by your power, all the praise is to you, through my Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

So simple.. so profound!

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This mystery has been kept in the dark for along time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less…

I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery!

You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught… and let your living spill over into thanksgiving..

Everything of God gets expressed in [Christ], so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you too. His power extends over everything. Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in – insiders – not through some secret initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin.

(Col 1.26-29;2.2&3,6&7,9-11: The Message)

I have been told that I am something of an ‘over-thinker’, one who tends to look for complications and difficulties where they do not exist, creating unnecessary burdens and stress for myself and distress for those around me. This may well be true – I prefer to say that I am realistic about the complexities of life!

However, I have always cherished the deep simplicity at the heart of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all who trust in him, and the Son of God. As the Message paraphrase so beautifully puts it.. ‘Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him.’ In the sheer volume of noise which is our world today – the noise of strident humanism; the wail of human suffering; the outrage of oppression; the wailing of a poisoned and sickening planet – amidst all this din, I still hear that clarion call which turns my eyes to the cross.

I turn my eyes upon Jesus, and I look long and full into that face of suffering love, of selfless giving, of God-confident sacrifice – and I cannot look away. I am compelled to trust, to follow, to offer up all that God has made in and given to me in response to dying-and-rising love incarnate. Without Jesus, this life is hopeless, aimless, and desolate. With Jesus, comes life, hope, love, joy and satisfaction – no matter what my circumstances may be. This good news is for everyone who will receive it, and we don’t need a PhD in theology or Greek in order to grasp and begin to live as those redeemed, cleansed and adopted by the Almighty God! We look to Jesus, and we ask His Spirit in us to make us like him, day by day in and through all that we experience. It is so simple…

And yet, it is also profound – as the innumerable quantities of words written down the centuries about our faith will testify! There is material here to occupy the greatest minds that God ever created; material to absorb and challenge the highest powers of every creative artist; truth to bear fruit upon every fresh meditation. We can never plumb the depths of God’s love, of his justice, of his providence; we can never adequately express our praise, and certainly never begin to comprehend or understand him! And how marvellous it is to know that the God who calls us into fellowship with him is – as the creator of our marvellous and mysterious universe should be – utterly beyond our comprehension!

We journey through this world by faith, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the unchanging author and pioneer of our faith. We journey simply trusting his word; we journey continually deeper into the profound mystery of his love, of his divinity, of the greatness of our God and the marvels of his grace. 

 

Look to Jesus,
With the look of faith, because our salvation is in him alone;
With the look of love, because He alone can satisfy our heart;
with the look of strong desire, longing to know him better;
with the look of soul devotion, waiting only to know His will;
with the look of gladness, because we know He loves us;
with the look of wonder and admiration, because He is the brightness of the Father's glory, our Lord and our God.

(from Andrew Murray, ‘The Holiest of All’, 1894, p. 484)

Be it unto me as my Lord decrees..

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O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end; Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend: I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side, nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my Guide.

O let me feel Thee near me: the world is ever near; I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear; my foes are ever near me, around me and within; but, Jesus, draw Thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.

O let me hear Thee speaking in accents clear and still, above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self-will; O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control; O speak, and make me listen, Thou Guardian of my soul.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised, to all who follow Thee, that where Thou art in glory there shall Thy servant be; and, Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end: O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend.

(JE Bode 1816-1874)

These words are engraved on my memory; are part of the soundtrack of my life just as much as the popular music of my teenage years, or the choral music of my adult life. I sang them at the annual Founder’s day event at school, I sang them at church, and the great striding melody which accompanies the words always made me want to march as I sang! They have been true for me for as long as I remember singing them.

And today, I simply want to give thanks and bear witness to the faithfulness of the God who called me into being, who caused me to be raised in a christian home; who imperceptibly birthed faith within me; who led me into adult life and to quiet paths of service and (I trust) fruitfulness. It is all his doing, all His love and compassion and keeping. I want to join with all God’s people in affirming that He is goodness itself, and utterly trustworthy! He has declared me to be his child, delivering me from the ruling power of sin, so that I might be ruled instead by love – the divine passion to which I can fully submit, confident that all that he ordains will be for my good and for his glory.

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…. so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.. now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 

(Rom 6.17-22)

Today I give thanks, along with all God’s people, that I am now a slave to righteousness and am being shaped day-by-day, through all the travails of life, into the likeness of Jesus my Lord. The commands and duties which shape my life are now all for good, and bear fruit for good, and I am empowered to know and to keep these commands because Jesus has given me his own spirit, his heart, his mind. I am on the road to eternal fullness, to never-ending fruitfulness and joy, to the bliss of being at home and without shame in the presence of holiness. And all this is because of Jesus, my master and friend, my guide and guardian. His ambition for me is outrageous, so far beyond my poor imagination, and it fills me with such a deep ache for my true home that I am increasingly eager to be away and to be with the Lord.

My slave-master is Righteousness himself, and I can surrender myself fully and confidently to his providence, because he died for me. My slave-master is Love incarnate, I need not fear his rod, nor hesitate to obey his word because he died for me. He is shaping me, in love, to become like himself – love and righteousness.. how can I resist?!

O Thou the reflection of whose transcendent glory did once appear unbroken in the face of Jesus Christ, give me today a heart like His – a brave heart, a true heart, a tender heart, a heart with great room in it, a heart fixed on Thyself; for His name’s sake. Amen

(J Baillie: A diary of Private Prayer, 1937)

Discipline – the blessings of duty

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“Do the next thing”… Many a questioning, many a fear, many a doubt hath its quieting here. Moment by moment, let down from heaven, time opportunity, guidance are given. Fear not tomorrows, child of the King, trust them with Jesus, “Do the next thing.”

Do it immediately; do it with prayer; do it reliantly, casting all care; do it with reverence, tracing his hand who placed it before thee with earnest command. Stayed on Omnipotence, safe’neath his wing, leave all resultings, “Do the next thing.”

(author unknown)

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your ids and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse…

(Phil 4.6-8; the Message)

Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen colour and design quite like it?.. If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers – most of which are never even seen – don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving…. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out.

(Matt 5.28-33; the Message)

What do you do when the background noise of your mind becomes overwhelmingly negative? Where do you go with the distressing feelings, and the sense of failing God that accompanies awareness of our sin and weakness? Well, perhaps the apostle Paul would class such things under the heading of ‘worries’, and thus we can look to his advice to shape those worries into prayer, to take the reality of our feelings and bring them into the presence of our loving Father for his comfort and reassurance.

If, like me, you find those ‘worries’ remarkably persistent in spite of prayer, it is good to cultivate the discipline of reminding ourselves that our feelings do not control us. They are strong, sometimes to an overwhelming degree. BUT, God tells us that they are lying if they deny our salvation; if they suggest that somehow Jesus’ sacrifice is not enough for one as hopeless as ourselves. The Cross is truly sufficient for every sinner, even for the feeblest saint who spends rather too much of their time lying face down in the dust, wanting to just die and get it all over with because they are so ashamed and fed up of their own weakness.

Alongside that discipline – which can be extremely hard to practice – comes the blessing of routine chores and the duties which we owe to those around us. I call them blessings because it is as we continue to fulfil our responsibilities – choosing to be faithful, practical, thoughtful for the care of others – that God often brings us relief, not least by distracting us from our own unhappiness! Those duties and responsibilities are what the unknown author of the quoted verses is referring to as ‘the next thing’ – covering every possible task and requirement which we have to face each day. I am so grateful for a home to care for, a garden to tend (there are always a great many ‘next things’ to be done there!); an extended family with whom to communicate and to support; a christian family to join in worship and service; and the never ending task of intercession for a world whose essential beauty and goodness is marred so deeply by the consequences of human sin.

Almighty and Loving Father in heaven, how I thank you for the duties and opportunities of each new day, for the blessing of having many ‘next things’ to keep me from dwelling on my own unhelpful thoughts and feelings. Thank you that the ultimate reality of my place as your beloved child is not threatened by those feelings. Thank you that your Spirit is at work to make me ever more steady and secure in my identity as your precious new-made daughter. Thank you that the well of your grace never runs dry; and even the feeblest, slowest and most easily distracted of your children will one day come home to sweetest rest in glory with you. Help us not to give up, help us to keep on doing ‘the next thing’ until there truly is no more to be done and you call us to yourself. In Jesus’ name and for his glory we pray, Amen.

How to bridge the gap

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O Thou in whom all my fathers trusted and were not put to confusion, rid my heart now of all vain anxieties and paralysing fears. Give me a cheerful and buoyant spirit, and peace in doing Thy will; for Christ’s sake, Amen

(Jn Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, OUP 1936)

Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you; take to heart my commands…. Don’t lose your grip on love and loyalty. tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.. Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!

(Prov 3.1-7: the Message)

While Jews clamour for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle – and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself – both Jews and Greeks – Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s weakness….. Everything we have – right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start – comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.

(1 Cor 1.22-30: the Message)

In the beginning, when God made humankind, the bible tells us that He was pleased with his handiwork. Adam and Eve were called to be stewards of creation, to act as God’s regents, reigning in their place as his people and exercising a benevolent and fruitful care for all that is made. We were made well, and although we rebelled and have rejected God’s authority over us, that truth remains. Humanity is called to be great, because we are made by a great God who has great purposes for us in His eternal story.

As a saved sinner, one who has accepted Jesus as Lord, I have to remember that I too am made well, made to serve my God and to flourish for Him in this world. While sin remains, and until the new creation is unveiled, I will struggle with my own weakness and the sin of others as these impact our world – but the truth remains, I am made well and in Jesus, I give glory to my maker.

To be wise – as the bible would define it – is to know how to live well in this world, with myself and those around me and ultimately with God. And that wisdom is fully and perfectly expressed in Jesus, who not only points the Way to God, but IS the Way; who not only shares and reveals truth about God, but IS Truth and truly God; who offers us life not by some rules and regulations, but in himself, who IS the Life everlasting, the life which belongs to God’s divine nature. To be wise then, is to have Jesus as Saviour and Lord, reigning in our lives and transforming us day by day into his wise-likeness.

As we accept that calling, to find life in Jesus, receiving him as God’s wisdom for our needs, we are equipped to live well in the world – peacefully, fruitfully, hopefully and attractively – shining the light of Christ for others to see and join us in God’s family. Jesus told his followers that as they held fast to him and practiced his teaching, they would know the truth and be set free from the power of sin to bind, distort, torment, and lay waste all their potential. They would know that great richness of life which comes from being in right relationship to God, with sin forgiven and a Spirit-led hunger to know and please our Maker.

This is where we find the bridge, the path from where we were in our sin, to where God has called and made us to be – fully alive, delighting in him, eager to share his love and to enjoy all his good gifts. This is the kind of life to which I aspire, and so I continue to pray for wisdom to grow in me, continue to strive to learn each day what it means to reject the bonds of sin, fear, and guilt.

Oh Father God, have mercy on your daughter in her awareness of failure, her disappointment with herself, and grief over failing you. Forgive and restore her to joy in salvation, in hope in your transforming power, and confidence in Jesus. Bridge that gap between her understanding of the truth, and her lived experience of it, so that her faith becomes buoyant, and she is set free from fear. In Jesus’ powerful name, Amen.

It’s not a performance, it’s a gift…

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Still the night, holy the night! Sleeps the world; hid from sight, Mary and Joseph in stable bare watch o’er the child beloved and fair, sleeping in heavenly rest…..

Still the night, holy the night! Shepherds first saw the light, heard resounding clear and long, far and near, the angel-song, ‘Christ the Redeemer is here!’….

Still the night, holy the night! Son of God, O how bright love is smiling from thy face! Strikes for us now the hour of grace, Saviour since thou art born!’

( Mohr, 1792-1848, translated by S.A. Brooke, 1832-1916)

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Rom 6.22-23)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved… For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. 

(2Cor 2.4,5,8&9)

As a Jesus-believer, I look forward to celebrating his birth into our world, remembering with awe and thankfulness the magnitude of that step from unimagineable glory, to the tiny compass, and total helplessness of a human infant. I am grateful that our culture provides time to focus on the story, pondering what it meant, and means, for all humanity that God became one who lived and lives among us.

BUT…. I am aware that for many believers, there is an expectation, a pressure that every year they should achieve a state of heightened spiritual awareness, a transcendent calm and detachment from the busy-ness and daily uncertainties which comprise our lives. Perhaps some people do manage, every year, to reach this condition of super-spirituality, and to pass the season in serene contemplation and worship. Personally, I do not.. and I believe it can be a dangerous expectation to entertain, a foothold by which the enemy of our souls will undermine and condemn us as lacking true faith and spirituality, when we just plod on with the challenges of each day, not feeling very joyful, or serene.

Did God say that we must achieve this super-spiritual state every Christmas and Easter season? Does it say anywhere in our scriptures that we are to generate a particular group of feelings? No! The glorious and grounding reality is not in any way related to our feelings, but is based in facts, in truths which are as immutable as God himself, and as different from human fallibility and fickleness as can be imagined! If we let ourselves believe the lie that somehow every real Christian ‘gets’ Christmas in some transcendent ways, then we are letting ourselves in for serious trouble – as lies usually do. But it is not necessary to screw ourselves up to some heightened emotions in order to properly give thanks, to worship and sit for a little in awed silence before Mary’s infant son.

If our lives in any given advent season do lend themselves to giving extra time to meditating on the truth, soaking up the music and letting God speak to our hearts in an unhurried way, that’s marvellous! But it is also quite acceptable for believers to sincerely celebrate and worship without that luxury, to experience no particularly intense joys, and yet still be blessed and nourished as they share when they can in singing and retelling the story. We are not being judged on our ‘performance’ as believers in that sense, and our best response to the gift of God in Jesus is humble, quiet and relieved acceptance. We can add nothing to what he has done for us, and the grace poured out in Christ by God covers all our needs.

Father, loving and tender-hearted refuge of my aching soul, hear your daughter this night. She is weary, shot through with bitter griefs and the beauty of Christmas music brings floods of tears. She is not serene, or calm but often sad and uncertain. Thank you that her salvation is still secure because it is not dependent on her feeling the right sensations, or striving to enter a particular state of mental tranquility!

The hour of grace has struck for her, for all the weary ones for whom the season brings such mixed feelings of gladness and sadness, hope and grief. Grace is ours now because Christ is born, and there is our true peace, one which lies deep beneath the stormy waves and cannot be taken from us. Thank you..